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Construct the box carcase SIMPLE JOINTS IN THIN STOCK Top panel, 1 plywood with 1 ⁄8-in.-thick birch ⁄16-in.-thick maple veneer on bottom, 10¼ in. wide by 14¾ in. long Short sides,¼ -in.thick maple, 411 Long sides, 1 411 ⁄4-in.-thick maple, Rabbet for top, 3 deep by 1 ⁄16 in. tall by 15 in. long ⁄16 in. ⁄8 in. wide by 1 ⁄16 in. tall by 10½ in. long Rabbet, 1 ⁄8 in. ⁄8 in., creates tongue on end of short sides. rip and plane the piece to exactly 11⁄2 in. thick. Now it’s ready to be sawn into veneer strips 1⁄16 in. thick. This box uses 19 strips of veneer: seven for the top and three for each side and end. I prefer to use a well-tuned tablesaw with a clean, sharp, thin-kerf blade because it makes a cleaner cut than a bandsaw. With the strips of parquet stacked in the order they came off the saw, glue them together edge to edge several at a time. I use a fixture consisting of an MDF base and two fences. To keep the strips from buckling, I hold them down with exercise weights. And to apply clamping pressure, I tap opposing wedges in place between the last strip and one fence. As I glue up the strips, I offset every other one by one square to produce the checkerboard parquet surface. The extra squares will get trimmed away later. To assemble large sheets of veneer, you’ll have to move one of the fences. If you’ve done your work neatly, the veneer sheets will need just a little light Groove for bottom panel, 1 ⁄8 in. by 1 Short side Bottom panel, 1⁄8-in.-thick birch plywood with 1 Dado, 1⁄8 in. by 1 ⁄8 in. Long side CORNER DETAIL Rabbet, 1 ⁄16-in.-thick maple veneer on the top and bottom, 10¼ in. wide by 14¾ in. long ⁄8 in. by 1 ⁄8 in. ⁄8 in. Small, simple joints. Use the tablesaw to cut the joints for the box carcase. Begin by making a 1 ⁄8 height settings, cut the mating rabbets in the short sides (right). 80 F I N E WO O DWO R K I N G -in.-deep dado in the long side pieces (left). With the same fence and blade- Open the box. This is the final step in assembling the box carcase. Progressively deeper cuts on the tablesaw separate the bottom section from the top. Drawings: Christopher Mills